Blogs

Decarbonize now! Tools supporting low carbon design strategies from Autodesk can help you with your AIA2030 commitments today!

By Amy Bunszel posted 9 days ago
The Architecture, Engineering, Construction (AEC) industry is often cited as a primary contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. While the climate challenges from emissions are significant, our opportunities to create positive impact are even greater. And this gives me a lot of hope for the future. At Autodesk, we see architects as essential to decarbonizing our built environment. We know that by working together, we have the opportunity to enable you with better products and technologies to help you achieve your decarbonization and sustainability goals. Here is the good news. The technologies and tools you need for new workflows, ...

Cultural change: Life first, then architecture

By Jennifer C. Kretschmer AIA posted 10 days ago
How changing my firm to a virtual practice allowed for a fuller life. By Jennifer Kretschmer, AIA The pandemic altered many parts of architectural practice, but we are now well beyond looking at the last few years and believing that firms will go back to doing business and practice the same way they did before. It’s just not going to happen. Our profession has changed forever. And quite frankly, it’s for the best. Architecture’s culture of overwork is an obsession that has gone on far too long and is unsustainable. We ask a lot of our aspiring professionals, often leaving them with a poor work-life balance. They don’t earn the title ...

Designing for a carbon-neutral future: The role of architects in early-stage design

By Cesar R. Escalante AIA posted 10 days ago
By Cesar Escalante, AIA , 2025 Chair Technology in Practice Knowledge Community Introduction The imperative to achieve a carbon-neutral built environment has become increasingly urgent in recent years. As the primary creators of our physical spaces, architects hold a unique and pivotal role in mitigating the environmental impact of buildings. By integrating carbon analysis into the early stages of the design process, the profession can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of their projects and contribute to a more sustainable future. Embodied and Operational Carbon: A Primer Carbon emissions associated with buildings can be broadly ...

Minoro.org

By Jacob M. Werner AIA posted 11 days ago
Minoro .org , developed by Grimshaw and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is a new , free online tool th at aggregates carbon reduction guidance and references into a comprehensive dashboard . According to the user g uide , “Minoro is the Latin word to reduce . Given today’s climate emergency and the need to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment it seemed apt.” The Minoro web-based dashboard provides a visual, step-by-step resource for carbon reduction guidance , detailing key actions and responsibilities for building project stakeholders, organized according ...

Joint IAKC/DFA October Webinar Recap

By Alison Karfeld posted 19 days ago
By Bob Dillon, AIA On Tuesday September 24 th , the AIA Interior Architecture Knowledge Community and the AIA Design for Aging Knowledge Community co-hosted a webinar focused on the Living Out community in Palm Springs, California. Living Out is California’s only luxury 55+ community designed specifically for active LGBTQ+ individuals. Loren Ostrow, the driving force, and current Chief Executive Office and President of Living Out presented a detailed history of the project from inception through construction and shared the program and design of this recently completed project. For decades Loren had dreamed of using his knowledge as a leader in the ...

COTE Top Ten Award Winners

By Lisa M. Ferretto AIA posted 20 days ago
COTE Top Ten Award Winners: Explore the submission pdfs for additional images, detailed drawings, and diagrams for a visual narrative of architectural innovation integrating exemplary performance with a compelling design. 2024 2023

COTE news: November/December 2024

By Kira L. Gould Hon. AIA posted 24 days ago
Check out the latest issue of COTE news ... our November/December 2024 issue has landed. This is news from The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment, a Knowledge Community. https://bit.ly/COTEnewsNovDec24 In this issue you will find: the chair letter from the inimitable Michelle Amt, FAIA a reminder about COTE Top Ten submissions due on 8 January (pro tip: if you are having trouble finding it in the list of open programs, like I was, it's because AIA has refined the process in a really great way: look for "universal project entry" (and within the platform, you will choose the ...

Letter from the Chair - Jason Larrison, November Newsletter

By Alison Karfeld posted 30 days ago
By Jason Larrison 58 months down… 2 months to go. It was in late 2019 that I received a letter from then-president Jane Frederick, FAIA that I was appointed to the Regional and Urban Design Committee. I applied to join the RUDC after two decades of professional experience shaping the urban environment in Indianapolis. I was excited to learn from other experts in the field and to share my experiences with others. Almost five years later and things are coming to a culmination in November. I am finishing my tenure as a member of the knowledge community and as chair of the RUDC. It finishes with an exclamation point when the RUDC symposium is held ...

Test October ABI Results

By Jessica Price AIA posted 10-31-2024
This is an October Test Case for AIA/Deltek ABI Results. WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 18, 2023 – Business conditions at architecture firms declined again in September, the AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reports. The score of 44.8 for September is the lowest score reported since December 2020 during the height of the pandemic. Any score below 50.0 indicates decreasing business conditions and this score indicates a significant increase in firms reporting declining billings. “The September ABI score reflects a marked downturn in business conditions at architecture firms, with the sharpest decline observed since the peak of the pandemic," said ...

AIA Climate Action Manager Position Available!

By Lisa M. Ferretto AIA posted 10-24-2024
AIA Climate Action Manager Position Available! Our Climate Action Manager position is posted! Please share with those who may be interested in joining our Climate Action and Design Excellence team here at AIA!

AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: BlueScope November 2024

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-21-2024
How BlueScope’s c limate a ction a pproach s hape s the s ustainability of s teel As climate change and environmental challenges continue to impact global well-being, architects are at the forefront of designing more sustainable, resilient structures. Achieving these outcomes requires collaboration across industries. Beyond partnerships, architects need materials that enable flexible, innovative designs. Steel plays a critical role by reducing embodied carbon, enhancing durability, and supporting circular construction approaches. The r ole of s teel Steel is a durable, ...

AIA Corporate Partners COTE Newsletter Article: Stantec November 2024

By Alison Karfeld posted 10-21-2024
Making the case: How designers can help the world say yes to decarbonization By David Martin , Stantec There’s never been a better time to make a difference through design than today . To forward decarbonization, however, we must combine our passion for good with pragmatism. Our society faces an overwhelming challenge in climate change. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the United Nations, we have a narrow path for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 if we are to hit net zero emissions by 2050 and limit global temperature rise. As architects, we hold immense responsibility ...

COTE Network Update

By Bunny Tucker AIA posted 10-17-2024
By Bunny Tucker, AIA, CPHD The COTE Network will host its final quarterly call of the year on Tuesday November 12, 2024 at 2:00 pm ET. We hope you can join us to share the work of your committee and to hear what others have been up to this year. The event will be followed by office hours from 3:00 pm ET to 3:30 pm ET. We also want to announce that the Network is transitioning from Basecamp to a COTE Network Community Hub hosted on the AIA’s website as part of the AIA’s comprehensive communication strategy for Knowledge Communities. Similar to Basecamp, there will be a discussion board in which all members can participate. Please stay tuned for announcements ...

Submit your leading edge unbuilt work to the Holcim Foundation Awards

By Kira L. Gould Hon. AIA posted 10-17-2024
Submit your leading edge unbuilt work to the Holcim Foundation Awards -- get international recognition by Kira Gould The H olcim Foundation awards has opened their 2025 cycle. It may seem like there are so many awards programs these days, and they can be a big time and money sink, so it’s important to choose wisely. From the COTE community perspective, I find a lot of awards programs rather thin. Even if they are including sustainability in their criteria, many seem to do this (even now!) in vague ways that often seem designed to encourage greenwashy language (or worse). All that context is why I think so highly of the Holcim Foundation awards. This ...

Sharing the Top Ten 2024 Winners: Posters to Download & Print

By Kira L. Gould Hon. AIA posted 10-16-2024
Sharing the Top Ten 2024 Winners: Posters to Download & Print Alison Kwok, a Professor at the University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment, is a longtime friend of COTE. She helped developed the earliest iteration of the Top Ten for Students Competition and has long championed the use of the AIA COTE Top Ten Award winning projects as a pedagogical tool. In 2019, they piloted this, making posters of all the winners. This year, she and others at the school reprised their translation of the winning projects into posters that they printed for their recent 2024 Reynolds Symposium: Design: Resilience. And true to form, they offered to ...

Building Performance Knowledge Community - Deep Focus on Performance on All Scales

By William P. Babbington FAIA posted 10-16-2024
Building Performance Knowledge Community - Deep Focus on Performance on All Scales by Will Babbington | FAIA, PE – Chair with contributions from BPKC Leadership Group Jason Danielson, AIA; Jessica Saravia, AIA; Rob Shearer, AIA; and Guanzhou Ji, AIA The profound impact of Building Performance on overall energy consumption is now well-known thanks to the efforts of groups like COTE. With more stringent requirements in current and future codes and standards, there's an increasing need to provide architects with even more tools and knowledge to lead design and construction teams towards higher performing buildings. With a large overlap ...

UPDATE from AIA 2030 & Materials Pledge

By David G. Arkin AIA posted 10-15-2024
Dear COTE community, On behalf AIA’s two climate signatory programs, the AIA 2030 Commitment and AIA A&D Materials Pledge , we’re excited to share this past year’s progress in the zero-carbon and materials realm – with reflections on how far we’ve come and much more to do! 2030 Commitment This year’s 2030 By the Numbers report has signs of hope within it, including a record breaking 490 firms reporting data, over 7,000 projects reporting Embodied Carbon Intensity (ECI), and increases in reported all - electric buildings and projects with renewable ...

Building Performance Knowledge Community - Deep Focus on Performance on All Scales

By William P. Babbington FAIA posted 10-14-2024
This article ran in the COTE News / November-December 2024 Issue Building Performance Knowledge Community - Deep Focus on Performance on All Scales by Will Babbington | FAIA, PE – Chair with contributions from BPKC Leadership Group Jason Danielson, AIA; Jessica Saravia, AIA; Rob Shearer, AIA; and Guanzhou Ji, AIA The profound impact of Building Performance on overall energy consumption is now well-known thanks to the efforts of groups like COTE. With more stringent requirements in current and future codes and standards, there's an increasing need to provide architects with even more tools and knowledge to lead design and ...

Letter from the Chair -- November/December 2024

By Michelle Amt FAIA posted 10-14-2024
By Michelle Amt FAIA Just like that, a year has gone by. In that time, the COTE Leadership Group began the work to update COTE’s vision, mission and goals for 2025 – 2030. We also progressed initiatives, and launched new ones, around the themes I outlined in January: Supporting deeper integration of the Framework for Design Excellence (and its associated metrics) within the AIA and throughout academia. We continued to provide feedback on alignment efforts between AIA Working Groups and Knowledge Communities. Beth Brandt, 2024 COTE Network co-leader, and Lori Ferriss, 2023 COTE Chair, have joined a Committee on Climate Action and ...